Anyone else having one?
You know, when you're tired regardless of how much sleep you got last night. When you think you're going to scream if you have to look at one more stupid dish to wash or mess to clean. When you would rather rip your ears off your head than listen to one more noise. When getting committed sounds better than spending two more minutes doing what you're doing.
Happens to me almost every year; I should expect it and prepare for it. But I didn't. Now it's the day after Thanksgiving and all I want to do is lay in a ball and stare at the wall. (I can't even bring myself to think about how I'll be feeling a month from now with the post Christmas crash. . .)
My kids are clamoring to put up the Christmas tree but it took all I had today to just get them breakfast.
How, how, how do I avoid this in the future? What do you all do to deal with the onslaught of stress, noise, and mess that the holidays bring? Seriously. I need some tips.
6 comments:
Ear plugs? Actually, Christmas music makes me happy, so playing it helps me. I don't know if it would help you or not. We put on KOSI 101, but Kirsten has complained that their music is too loud. She says Christmas music should be soft. So you might try soft Christmas music. You might also try to convince your children that the day after a holiday is your break. No Christmas tree until Saturday. Or, no Christmas tree until Dec. 1. Give yourself a little downtime. Just suggestions, I don't know what will work for you.
This year I decided to take the stores advice and start the Holidays right after Halloween. By spreading out the holidays a little more I've found a little less stress in them. Christmas tree went up weeks ago, shopping has been getting done little bits at a time and heck with tradition, disposable flatware for Thanksgiving.
Due to a child's birthday being in December, we hold off on any and all Christmas decorations until after the birthday.
That gives us a few extra weeks (compared to those starting Christmas much earlier) to spread things out and breathe in between.
Other than that...I got nothin'...
Gosh... I'm racking my brain here trying to think of some advice to give you, but the best thing I can come up with is this: Have your husband take off the entire Thanksgiving weekend with the understanding that Friday or Saturday is YOUR day. On Thanksgiving, you cook the dinner, do some dishes, clean up at least somewhat, and then the next day, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE (without the kids)! I know, it's black Friday, so you probably shouldn't go shopping if you need quiet, but just go for a drive, a walk, visit with a friend you haven't seen for a while. Make it a tradition. The weekend after Thanksgiving (or at least part of it) is YOUR time to recoup before the onslaught of Christmas. I don't know how feasible that is for you, but it's a good idea, isn't it?
1- post Tday dishes and housecleaning are to be done by your husband and children, while you relax.
2- no shopping on Black Friday. if you MUST, try to only buy items that are listed online (almost all of them are now) or wait until Cyber Monday...the deals are pretty good (only $20 difference on big ticket items that I've seen), if not the same.
3- no Christmas Decorations until after December 1st.
4- Try to do some holiday shopping before Tday.
5- make a list and then STOP worrying about it 24/7.
Well, most of what I would say has already been said. Here's my tips:
Wash dishes as you go (this is amazing). I think we did a total of 7 dishwasher loads during the day before and the day of Thanksgiving. But when thanksgiving dinner was over and everyone had scraped their plates and loaded them in the dishwasher, the kitchen was cleared up.
On a folding table, we had a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle (on a rollaway felt mat so it could be put away from cats when we weren't working on it). Quiet togetherness time of just putting pieces in place lasted until Sunday night. It could be done on a come-and-go basis, and it felt like a holiday to do something different like that, so there was less letdown.
Tradition: Christmas tree goes up for FHE on the first Monday in December. That almost always puts a little distance between Thanksgiving and the start of Christmas.
Last of all: just do less. Pick what is important to your family (ie, what they enjoy, not what someone else says you have to do), do those, and let the rest go. Less presents. Less decoration. And above all, less expectation. It's not your job to make Christmas "perfect." That was done some couple thousand of years ago.
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